The public health risk from the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been raised from “high” to “very high” by the World Health Organization (WHO)<\/b>. In an update on Friday, WHO head Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also stated that the risk in the wider African region was “high,” but it remained “low” globally.<\/p>\n
The rare species of Ebola, known as Bundibugyo, currently has no proven vaccine and kills approximately a third of those infected. So far, the outbreak centered in DR Congo has led to 177 suspected deaths and 750 suspected cases.<\/p>\n
This development comes as scientists at Oxford University in the UK are working on a new vaccine that could be ready for clinical trials within two to three months. Based on the same technology used for the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, there are no guarantees of its effectiveness, and it will require animal research and human trials to confirm its efficacy. The BBC understands that animal testing is already underway in Oxford. The Serum Institute of India is prepared to mass-produce the Ebola vaccine once Oxford can provide medical-grade material.<\/p>\n
A separate experimental Bundibugyo vaccine is also under development, but it is anticipated to take six to nine months for any dose to be ready for testing. Dr. Vasee Moorthy, WHO’s research and development adviser, described this vaccine as “the most promising” earlier this week. He stated it would be the equivalent of Ervebo, which is already in use for the more common Zaire species of Ebola.<\/p>\n
Speaking at Friday’s news briefing in Geneva, Dr. Tedros said: “We are now revising our risk assessment to very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at the global level.<\/b>” He added that “so far, 82 cases have been confirmed in DRC, with seven confirmed deaths.” Dr. Tedros also noted that the situation in neighboring Uganda \u2013 where there have been two confirmed cases of the Bundibugyo species and one death \u2013 was “stable,” with both cases originating from individuals who had traveled from neighboring DR Congo.<\/p>\n
Ebola is a rare but deadly disease caused by a virus. Although less lethal than other Ebola species, the rarity of Bundibugyo means there are fewer tools available to combat it. Ebola viruses typically infect animals, particularly fruit bats, but human outbreaks can sometimes begin when people consume or handle infected animals. On Sunday, the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern<\/b>, but clarified it was not yet at pandemic level.<\/p>\n
The WHO chief also emphasized on Friday the crucial need to build trust, warning that violence and insecurity in the war-ravaged region were impeding the response to the Ebola outbreak. Some Ebola cases have also been confirmed in rebel-held areas within the DR Congo. Dr. Tedros’s comments followed an incident where angry relatives set fire to a hospital in eastern DR Congo after health workers refused to release a patient’s body due to contamination risks. “They started throwing projectiles at the hospital,” local politician Luc Malembe Malembe told the BBC, describing the scene he witnessed at Rwampara General Hospital. “They even set fire to tents that were being used as isolation wards.” In the ensuing chaos, police fired warning shots to disperse the crowd.<\/p>\n
The body of a deceased Ebola victim is highly infectious, and authorities must ensure safe burial practices to prevent further viral spread. Medical workers at the hospital, located near the city of Bunia in Ituri province, where almost all cases have been reported, were placed under military protection as police intervened to restore order.<\/p>\n
Fear has gripped Ebola-affected areas in eastern DR Congo as the suspected number of deaths continues to rise. “Ebola has tortured us,” a young taxi rider in Rwampara told the BBC. “I am scared because people are dying very fast… we are really afraid.” Fred Kiza, another Rwampara resident, told the BBC that such fear was “normal when there’s a disease like this.”<\/p>\n
#EbolaOutbreak #DRCongo #WHO #PublicHealth #EbolaVaccine #Bundibugyo #GlobalHealth #DiseasePrevention #MedicalResearch #AfricaHealth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ebola Outbreak Escalates in DR Congo, WHO Raises Risk Level The public health risk from the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been raised from “high” to “very high” by the World Health Organization (WHO). In an update on Friday, WHO head Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also stated that the risk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}